PIP (Personal Independence Payments) can make a big difference to your income, providing a boost of almost £800 a month at the highest rate.
The DWP benefit provides support for those with a long-term illness or health condition and is not means-tested.
There are a host of medical conditions that could qualify you for the payments, as long as you are affected either in your daily life or your mobility, ir on both these respects.
The PIP handbook mentions five types of condition that are eligible: “Health conditions or disabilities may be physical, sensory, mental, intellectual or cognitive, or any combination of these.”
When applying for PIP, you may be required to undertake an assessment, in which case all these categories will be taken into consideration, when looking at the different ways your health condition affects you.
PIP payments include a daily living element and a mobility element, with a lower and higher rate depending on how much support you need.
These are the current payment rates:
Mobility
- Lower – £28.70
- Higher – £75.75
Daily living
- Lower – £72.65
- Higher – £108.55.
If you were on the higher rate for both parts, you would get £184.30 a week, or £737.20 each four-week pay period. This is the equivalent of £798.63 a month.
To determine how much support a person needs, applicants are scored on how well they can perform certain activities.
These are the 12 activities that you are assessed for:
Daily living activities:
- Activity 1: Preparing food
- Activity 2: Eating and drinking
- Activity 3: Managing your treatments
- Activity 4: Washing and bathing
- Activity 5: Using the toilet and managing incontinence
- Activity 6: Dressing and undressing
- Activity 7: Talking, listening and understanding
- Activity 8: Reading
- Activity 9: Mixing with other people
- Activity 10: Managing money.
Mobility activities:
- Activity 11: Planning and following a journey
- Activity 12: Moving around.
You need a score of at least eight points to get the lower rate of PIP and 12 points to get the upper rate.
The PIP handbook explains: “Within each activity there are a number of descriptors, each representing a varying level of ability to carry out the activity.
“Individuals will receive a point score for each activity, depending on how well they can carry them out and the help they need to do so.”
